Tag: united arab emirates

COP28 draft deal slammed for dropping call to phase out fossil fuels | Climate Crisis News

Oil-rich countries have pushed back against proposed language that underscores need to move away from fossil fuels.

A draft deal at the COP28 climate talks in Dubai stops short of calling on nations to gradually phase out fossil fuels, whose use is the primary driver of climate change and increasingly extreme weather across the globe.

The draft was released on Monday, and its critics alleged that oil-rich countries have used their influence to water down its language on the need to eliminate fossil fuels.

“You know what remains to be agreed, and you know that I want you to deliver the highest ambition on all items, including on fossil fuel language,” COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber said to the summit, noting that there is still time to iron out differences before the conference concludes on Tuesday.

While more than 100 countries of the nearly 200 attending the United Nations climate talks have called for planet-warming fossil fuels to be phased out, oil-producing nations such as Saudi Arabia and Iran have firmly opposed the inclusion of such language.

The Reuters news agency reported that the United Arab Emirates, which is hosting the summit, had come under pressure from Saudi Arabia to drop any mentions of fossil fuels from the conference’s agreement. It cited unnamed sources with knowledge of the discussions for its report.

Monday’s draft nixes a previous call to “phase out” all fossil fuels and offers eight options countries “could” consider to cut emissions.

The conference has faced criticism for close ties with fossil fuel interests from the start, especially after the UAE named al-Jaber, who runs a state oil company, to preside over the climate negotiations.

Al-Jaber also came under fire after a video emerged in which he appears to dispute some of the science around climate change.

In a statement on Monday, the US Department of State said the draft’s language around fossil fuels needs to be “substantially strengthened”.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also said her government could not support the deal.

Some climate advocates were even more unsparing.

“If this race-to-the-bottom monstrosity gets enshrined as the final word, this crucial COP will be a failure,” Jean Su from the Center for Biological Diversity told the Associated Press.

Small island nations who will bear a disproportionate share of the hardship produced by climate change have also slammed the draft, which they described as a death warrant.

“We will not go silently to our watery graves,” said John Silk, the head of the Marshall Islands delegation.



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UN climate chief slams opponents of fossil fuel phase-out at COP28 | News

Talks intensify over calls to phase out fossil fuels, as oil producers led by Saudi Arabia put up tough resistance.

The UN’s climate chief has urged countries to lift “tactical blockades” to a deal to phase out fossil fuels.

Speaking 24 hours before the COP28 climate summit draws to a close, Simon Stiell called on Monday for delegates to remove obstacles to sealing a deal at the meeting in Dubai.

“First, clear the unnecessary tactical blockades out of the way,” he said, citing the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support the transition of less developed countries.

“Any strategic landmines that blow it up for one, blow it up for all,” he told reporters.

Talks have intensified over calls to phase out fossil fuels, the top culprit in the planet’s worsening crisis, but oil producers led by Saudi Arabia have put up tough resistance.

As the official end of COP28 approached, work on finding the right language to achieve a consensus among nearly 200 countries had raised hopes of a new draft deal on Monday morning.

Stiell sought to maintain the momentum, calling on countries to remain ambitious as they seek a way to preserve the goal of checking global warming at no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (34.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.

“I urge negotiators to reject incrementalism. Each step back from the highest ambition will cost countless millions of lives,” Stiell said.

“The reality is the highest-ambition outcomes are the only way for all governments to leave Dubai with a win under their belt,” he said.

“One thing is for certain: ‘I win, you lose’ is a recipe for collective failure. Ultimately, it is eight billion people’s security that is at stake.”

‘Failure is not an option’

The annual Conference of the Parties, or COP, has rarely finished on schedule in its 28-year history, but COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber has called on countries to wrap things up on time on Tuesday.

Al-Jaber, the head of the national oil company of the United Arab Emirates, has repeatedly promised to deliver a historic deal and urged countries to find a “consensus and common ground” on fossil fuel.

“Failure is not an option,” he said on Sunday.

China, the world’s biggest emitter, was also initially seen as hostile to a phase-out but has since been working to find a compromise.

Chinese climate envoy Xie Zhenhua recalled on Saturday that the United States and China issued a joint statement last month agreeing on the need to speed up the deployment of renewable energy to gradually substitute the use of oil, gas and coal.

A deal drafted on Friday included similar language on the need to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030 to “displace fossil fuel-based energy”.

Countries are waiting for the new draft deal before putting all their negotiating “chips” on the table, said a source close to the COP28 presidency, quoted by the AFP news agency.

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With Europe’s help, a Libyan brigade accused of killings returns refugees | Refugees

Names marked with an asterisk have been changed to protect identities.

A shadowy Libyan armed group accused of unlawful killings, torture, arbitrary detention and enslavement, with alleged links to Russia’s Wagner Group, has been forcibly returning refugees with the help of European authorities, a new investigation has found.

On several occasions this year, GPS coordinates released by Europe’s border agency Frontex have ended up in the hands of the Tareq Bin Zayed (TBZ), allowing militiamen to haul back hundreds of people at a time from European waters to eastern Libya.

The pullbacks described by witnesses, which often involve violence, are illegal. Under international law, refugees cannot be returned to unsafe countries such as Libya, where they are at risk of serious ill-treatment.

The joint investigation by Al Jazeera, Lighthouse Reports, the Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism (SIRAJ), Malta Today, Le Monde, and Der Spiegel, involved months of researching the latest pullbacks, including extensive interviews with witnesses, experts and officials.

The TBZ pullbacks from European waters began in May. Al Jazeera and its partners investigated five that took place this year, which overall saw hundreds being returned and many abused. The TBZ is also known to drag people back from Libyan waters.

The pattern that emerged suggests that European powers are working directly and indirectly with the TBZ, amid their efforts to curb refugee arrivals.

These institutions are well aware of the TBZ’s alleged human rights abuses but do nothing to stop the brigade acting as a coastguard partner, even though it is closely tied to Khalifa Haftar, the renegade general at the helm of the eastern Libyan administration which is not recognised by the international community, including the European Union.

The bloc also understands the TBZ’s connections to Wagner, the Russian mercenary force accused of atrocities from Africa to Ukraine.

The investigation found that Malta appears to be playing a direct role. During one incident in August, an audio recording strongly suggests that a Maltese air force pilot relayed the coordinates of a boat in distress to the TBZ.

Several refugees who have been intercepted by the group told Al Jazeera and its partners that TBZ militiamen have tortured, beat, and shot at them. One said they witnessed a killing. Others, having paid vast sums to smugglers, said TBZ forced them to pay ransom or made them work for their freedom.

“Frontex and national rescue coordination centres should never provide information to any Libyan actors,” said Nora Markard, an expert on international law at Germany’s University of  Munster. “Frontex knows who TBZ is and what this militia does.

“What the militia is doing is more of a kidnapping than a rescue. You only have to imagine pirates announcing that they will deal with a distress case.”

Several hundred refugees have been pulled back to eastern Libya in the TBZ’s boat, pictured here, which is named after the brigade [Screengrab/Al Jazeera]

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COP28 pledges so far not enough to limit warming to 1.5C, warns IEA | Climate Crisis News

The International Energy Agency warns against lack of progress in limiting the global warming as climate talks headed into the final phase.

A raft of new pledges announced at the COP28 climate summit will not be enough on their own to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), as the talks headed into the final phase on Sunday.

So far, 130 countries have agreed to triple renewables and double the rate of energy efficiency improvements, while 50 oil and gas companies have agreed to cut out methane emissions and eliminate routine flaring by 2030 under the Oil and Gas Decarbonisation Charter.

If everyone delivered on their commitments, it would lower global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions by 4 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2030, the IEA said in an analysis.

That is about a third of the emissions gap that needs to be closed in the next six years to limit warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, as agreed to in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

“They would not be nearly enough to move the world onto a path to reaching international climate targets,” the IEA said on Sunday.

“The IEA will continue to monitor the ongoing developments at COP28 and update its assessment as needed,” it added.

Message from Jaber

COP28 President Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber also stepped up pressure on countries on Sunday to quickly resolve differences over a deal on fossil fuels.

“Failure is not an option. What we are after is the common good. What we’re after is what is in the best interest of everyone, everywhere,” al-Jaber, the CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co, said on Sunday.

“We need to find consensus and common ground on fossil fuel, including coal,” he added.

The IEA has previously said countries would need to deliver in five key areas at COP28 to keep 1.5C a possibility.

In addition to adding renewables, boosting energy efficiency and cutting methane, it said a large-scale financing mechanism is needed to triple clean energy investment in poorer nations. The IEA also said the world would need to commit to a decline in the use of fossil fuels and end new approvals of unabated coal-fired power plants.

The COP28 summit runs through December 12.

Saudi Arabia, a major oil producer, and India, which is heavily reliant on coal, are said to be the main obstacles to an agreement on phasing out fossil fuels at COP28.

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Putin makes rare trip to Middle East to meet with UAE and Saudi leaders | Vladimir Putin News

The Russian leader has been bolstering his partnerships with Gulf nations as Moscow faces growing isolation by the West.

Escorted by four fighter jets, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare one-day lightning tour to the Middle East during which he visited the United Arab Emirates before departing for Saudi Arabia.

Putin landed on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, which is hosting the United Nations COP28 climate talks.

He was escorted to the presidential palace, where he was greeted with a 21-gun salute and a flyby of UAE military jets trailing smoke in the colours of the Russian flag.

The Gulf nation’s President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan called Putin his “dear friend”.

“I am happy to meet you again,” Sheikh Mohammed said. He later issued a statement saying they discussed “the importance of strengthening dialogue and cooperation to ensure stability and progress”.

The Russian leader echoed those sentiments.

“Our relations, largely due to your position, have reached an unprecedentedly high level,” Putin told Sheikh Mohammed. “The UAE is Russia’s main trading partner in the Arab world.”

The meeting was part of Russia’s quest to stake out a more influential role in the Middle East, with oil cooperation and the Israel-Hamas war on the agenda.

The two leaders discussed, among other things, bilateral cooperation in the energy industry and advanced technologies, according to Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency.

Putin then jetted off to Riyadh, where he will meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, TASS reported – their first face-to-face meeting since October 2019.

Putin’s meeting with the prince, known as MBS, came after oil prices fell, despite a pledge by OPEC+, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as well as allies led by Russia, to further reduce output.

However, it was not immediately clear what Putin, who has rarely left Russia since the start of the Ukraine war, intended to raise specifically about oil or geopolitics with the crown prince of the world’s largest crude exporter.

On Thursday, Putin will host the Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Moscow. Following that, the UAE will welcome Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday and Saturday.

Putin’s rare trip to the region is his first since July 2022, when he met Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran.

The Russian leader has made few international trips after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him in March, accusing him of deporting Ukrainian children.

Neither the UAE nor Saudi Arabia have signed the ICC’s founding treaty, and are not obligated to arrest him if he enters their territories.

On Israel’s two-month bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip, Putin has decried the war as a failure of the United States diplomacy. He has suggested Moscow could instead play the role of a mediator due to its friendly ties with both Israel and the Palestinians.

Putin’s Middle East trip is also a part of his efforts to demonstrate that Western attempts to isolate Moscow through sanctions for its war on Ukraine have failed.

“He seems to be pretty delighted to be on the ground in Abu Dhabi,” said James Bays, Al Jazeera’s diplomatic editor. It is unclear how this visit will be seen in Washington, as the UAE also has close ties with the US, he added.

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COP28’s UAE president defends climate science comments | Climate News

Sultan al-Jaber hits out at ‘repeated attempts to undermine’ the work of the COP28 presidency in Dubai.     

The Emirati head of the United Nations climate conference has insisted that he respects climate science after he came under fire over a leaked video in which he questioned the science on fossil fuels.

Amid tough talks over the future of fossil fuels, Sultan al-Jaber, who is also head of UAE national oil company ADNOC, hit out at “repeated attempts to undermine” the work of the COP28 presidency in Dubai.

“We’re here because we very much believe and respect the science,” al-Jaber told a press conference on Monday.

Al-Jaber complained to reporters that “one statement taken out of context with misrepresentation” had received “maximum coverage”.

Showing how touchy the issue has become, Jim Skea, the head of the UN body tasked with assessing climate science, appeared alongside al-Jaber to face reporters.

He said al-Jaber “has been attentive to the science as we have discussed it and I think has fully understood it”.

Al-Jaber said global greenhouse gas emissions must be cut by 43 percent by 2030 to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels – a reduction outlined by Shea’s UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The Guardian newspaper published a video on Sunday showing al-Jaber having a testy exchange with former Irish president Mary Robinson during an online forum.

“I’m not in any way signing up to a discussion that is alarmist,” al-Jaber told the SHE Changes Climate online conference on November 21.

“I am factual and I respect the science, and there is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says that the phase-out of fossil fuels is what’s going to achieve 1.5 (degrees).”

The video sparked an outcry among NGOs, which were already outraged by the appointment of an oil company boss to head the crucial climate negotiations.

“If the COP28 president is guided by science and 1.5C remains his North Star, he must draw the right conclusions: nothing short of a full and rapid phase-out of fossil fuels will get us there,” said Romain Ioualalen, of Oil Change International.

Phase down or out?

Al-Jaber said on Monday that he has said “over and over that the phase-down and the phase-out of fossil fuel is inevitable”.

Although he also said it in the video, al-Jaber had previously only talked publicly of the inevitability of a “phase-down” – a weaker term as it implies that fossil fuels would not completely go away.

Adding to the confusion, the website of the COP28 presidency published a summary of the first few days of the talks which said that 22 heads of state and ministers discussed “the phase down of fossil fuels”.

It did not mention a phase-out, which many heads of state and government and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for during speeches on Friday and Saturday.

A first draft of a COP28 agreement released on Friday included both options – a “phasedown/out” of fossil fuels, which are the largest contributors to climate change.

Negotiators must now find common ground during talks due to end on December 12, with an agreement on the fossil fuels seen as key to the success of COP28.

‘Give the process space’

Participants in the talks told the AFP news agency that the European Union, several Latin American countries and island nations back the 1.5C target, which implies a rapid phase-out.

Other developed countries, including oil producers such as the United States, Canada, Norway and Australia also defend the 1.5C goal but with less ambitious paths out of fossil fuels.

Most African countries back a phase-out but with a longer delay for developing nations.

Major producers Russia and Saudi Arabia and top consumer China oppose mentioning fossil fuels in the text.

Al-Jaber pleaded for the process to be given “the space it needs. And if anything, judge us on what we will deliver at the end of this COP.”

COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber, centre, attends the opening session at the COP28 UN climate summit, on Thursday, November 30, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates [File: Peter Dejong/AP]

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Oil companies pledge to lower methane emissions at COP28 | Climate Crisis News

Fifty oil companies representing nearly half of global production have pledged to reach near-zero methane emissions and end routine flaring in their operations by 2030, but environmental groups have called it a “smokescreen”.

Sultan al-Jaber, the president of the United Nations climate summit (COP28) held in Dubai this year, made the announcement on Saturday, saying the pledge included major national oil companies such as Saudi Aramco, Brazil’s Petrobras and Sonangol from Angola and multinationals like Shell, TotalEnergies and BP.

“The world does not work without energy,” al-Jaber said. “Yet the world will break down if we do not fix energies we use today, mitigate their emissions at a gigaton scale and rapidly transition to zero carbon alternatives.”

Methane can be released at several points along the operation of an oil and gas company, from fracking to when natural gas is produced, transported or stored. It persists in the atmosphere for less time than carbon dioxide, but it’s more than 80 times more powerful than the greenhouse gas most responsible for climate change.

Al-Jaber, also the head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co, has maintained that having the industry’s buy-in is crucial to drastically slashing greenhouse emissions and limiting global warming.

However, environmental groups were quick to criticise the pledge. It is a “smokescreen to hide the reality that we need to phase out oil, gas and coal”, said a letter signed by more than 300 civil society groups.

(Al Jazeera)

Cutting methane emissions

The administration of US President Joe Biden unveiled on Saturday final rules aimed at cracking down on US oil and gas industry releases of methane.

Several governments, philanthropies and the private sector said they have also mobilised $1bn in grants to supports countries’ efforts to tackle the potent gas.

Two major emitters of methane, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, joined the Global Methane Pledge, a voluntary agreement by more than 150 countries to slash their methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030.

The World Bank on Saturday launched an 18-month “blueprint for methane reduction”, which will set up 15 national programmes aimed at cutting methane emissions from activities like rice production, livestock operations and waste management.

This year, European Union negotiators also reached a deal to reduce methane emissions from the energy industry across the 27-member bloc. The agreement bans routine venting and flaring and mandates strict reporting. By 2027, it will expand those norms to oil and gas exporters outside the bloc.

(Al Jazeera)

Other pledges

A slew of other announcements aimed at decarbonising the energy sector were made at COP28 on Saturday.

The US pledged $3bn to the Green Climate Fund, Vice President Kamala Harris said.

With more than $20bn in pledges, the fund is the largest of its kind dedicated to supporting climate action in developing countries. The $3bn would be in addition to another $2bn previously delivered by the US. In a written statement, the US Treasury said the new pledge is subject to funding availability.

A commitment by 117 countries, led by the EU, the US and the United Arab Emirates, also aims to triple renewable energy capacity worldwide by 2030 and double the annual rate of energy efficiency improvements.

Pledge backers included Brazil, Nigeria, Australia, Japan, Canada, Chile and Barbados. While China and India have signalled support for it, neither backed the overall pledge on Saturday – which pairs the ramp-up in clean power with a reduction in fossil fuel use.

A declaration was also signed by more than 20 countries aiming to triple nuclear power capacity by 2050 with US climate envoy John Kerry saying the world cannot achieve “net zero” emissions without building new reactors.

“We are not making the argument that this is absolutely going to be the sweeping alternative to every other energy source,” he said during a launch ceremony. “But … you can’t get to net-zero 2050 without some nuclear, just as you can’t get there without some use of carbon capture, utilisation and storage.”

Global nuclear capacity now stands at 370 gigawatts with 31 countries running reactors. Tripling that capacity by 2050 would require a significant scaling-up in new approvals and finance.

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Clashes over fossil fuels, Gaza war at COP28 climate summit | Climate Crisis News

Israel’s assault on Gaza resumes the day after the summit reaches an agreement over a long-sought rehabilitation fund.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged world leaders at the COP28 climate summit to plan for a future without fossil fuels, saying there was no other way to curb global warming.

Speaking a day after COP28 President Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber proposed embracing the continued use of fossil fuels, Guterres said: “We cannot save a burning planet with a fire hose of fossil fuels.”

“The 1.5-degree limit is only possible if we ultimately stop burning all fossil fuels. Not reduce. Not abate,” he said on Friday, referring to nascent technologies to capture and store carbon emissions.

The competing visions summed up the difficulty of the UN climate talks in the oil-producing United Arab Emirates, where divisions over fossil fuels and acrimony over lagging financing and geopolitical tensions around the war in Gaza threatened to distract delegates from making progress.

Climate disaster fund

An agreement was reached on Thursday for the creation of a “loss and damage fund” to help poor countries weather the impacts of climate change, which is largely the result of fossil fuel use by rich countries, which have produced a large share of cumulative emissions.

While such a fund has long been sought by developing nations, which stand to lose the most from climate change and have urged richer countries to provide assistance, only $700m was dedicated to the fund. Poor countries had said $100bn is needed.

A member from a developing nation on the summit’s main advisory board also resigned on Friday after reports that the host, the United Arab Emirates, would use the event to try to secure commercial deals on further oil and gas production.

“These actions undermine the integrity of the COP presidency and the process as a whole,” Hilda Heine, former president of the low-lying, climate-vulnerable Marshall Islands, said in a resignation letter.

A spokesperson for al-Jaber, who is also the head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, has denied the reports and said he is “extremely disappointed” by the resignation.

Hadeel Ikhmais, a climate change expert with the Palestinian Authority, speaks to reporters at the COP28 UN Climate Summit [Joshua A Bickel/AP Photo]

Anger over Gaza war

Some world leaders took their turn at the podium on Friday to criticise Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, breaking an unspoken agreement to steer clear of politics at UN climate summits.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erodgan and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa accused Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza during their speeches while an Israeli official said the military was abiding by international law and was intent on destroying Hamas.

“South Africa is appalled by the cruel tragedy that is under way in Gaza. The war against the innocent people of Palestine is a war crime that must be ended now,” Ramaphosa said.

“As we see in this region, conflicts are causing immense suffering and intense emotion,” Guterres said in remarks on Friday. “We just had the news that the bombs are sounding again in Gaza.”

“We are here all together, all the world together, to combat climate change and, really, we’re negotiating for what?” asked Hadeel Ikhmais, a climate change expert with the Palestinian Authority. “We’re negotiating for what in the middle of a genocide?”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog had been scheduled to give a speech on Friday but did not do so after other leaders criticised Israel’s heavy bombardment of Gaza, which Colombian President Gustavo Petro called “genocide and barbarism unleashed on the Palestinian people”.

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Climate disaster fund approved at UN’s COP28 climate summit | Climate News

The United Nation’s annual climate summit is under way in Dubai, with world leaders approving a climate disaster fund that will help vulnerable nations cope with the impact of drought, floods and rising seawater.

The agreement marked a “positive signal of momentum” at the start of the 2023 conference – known as COP28 – its host UAE’s Sultan al-Jaber said in the opening ceremony on Thursday.

Al-Jaber, who is the UAE’s minister of industry and also heads the national oil company, is chairing the summit for its 28th meeting. His leading role has drawn backlash from critics who believe his oil ties should disqualify him from the climate post.

In opening remarks, al-Jaber made the case that the world must “proactively engage” fossil fuel companies in phasing out emissions, pointing to progress by some national oil companies in adopting net-zero targets for 2050.

“I am grateful that they have stepped up to join this game-changing journey,” al-Jaber said in opening remarks. “But, I must say, it is not enough, and I know that they can do much more.”

The UN’s climate chief, Simon Stiell, gave a more stark assessment, saying there must be a “terminal decline” to the fossil fuel era if we want to stop “our own terminal decline”.

People stand for a moment of silence for victims in Gaza during the COP28 opening in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, November 30 [Amr Alfiky/Reuters]

Who is attending?

With more than 70,000 attendees, the two-week-long affair is billed as the largest-ever climate gathering.

Among tts expected attendees are dozens of world leaders, including the heads of state of France, Japan, the UK, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, and Brazil. Also represented are crowds of activists, lobbyists, and business leaders, including billionaire Bill Gates.

However, the presidents of the world’s two biggest polluters — the US and China — are not attending.

The summit comes at a pivotal time, with global emissions still climbing and 2023 projected to be the hottest year on record. Scientists warn the world must commit to accelerating climate action or risk the worst impacts of a warming planet.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said leaders should aim for a complete “phaseout” of fossil fuels, a proposal opposed by some powerful nations that has dogged past negotiations.

What are the goals?

On Thursday, nations formally approved the launch of a “loss and damage” fund to compensate climate-vulnerable countries after a year of hard-fought negotiations over how it would work.

Later in the summit attendees are due to review and calibrate the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCC’s) terms, Paris Agreement, and Kyoto Protocol, a binding treaty agreed in 1997 for industrialised nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

This year, UNFCC members will also face their first Global Stocktake (GST) – a scorecard analysing countries’ progress towards the Paris Agreement – so they can adapt their next climate action plans which are due in 2025.

At the same time, host UAE aims to marshal an agreement on the tripling of renewable energy and doubling the annual rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030.

Rallying a common position on these points will be challenging, as COP requires all nations – whether dependent on oil, sinking beneath rising seas or locked in geopolitical rivalry – to act unanimously.

Questions about the UAE’s role

The UAE sees itself as a bridge between the rich developed nations most responsible for historic emissions and the rest of the world, which has contributed less to global warming but suffers its worst consequences.

But the decision for it to host has attracted a firestorm of criticism, particularly as the man appointed to steer the talks, al-Jaber, is also head of UAE state oil giant ADNOC.

Al-Jaber, who also chairs a clean energy company, has defended his record, and strenuously denied this week that he used the COP presidency to pursue new fossil fuel deals after allegations reported by the BBC.

On Thursday, al-Jaber said the “role of fossil fuels” must be considered in any deal at the climate talks, saying “it is essential that no issue is left off the table”.

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COP28 president denies UAE using UN climate talks to seek oil deals | Climate News

An investigation finds the Emirati president of the talks, who is also an oil executive, is using his role to push fossil fuel deals.

The Emirati president of the United Nations climate conference in Dubai has denied reports that he has used his role at the negotiations to pursue fossil fuel deals.

A day before the talks are due to begin on Thursday, Sultan al-Jaber, who also is the CEO of the state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (Adnoc), rejected allegations made in a joint investigation by the Centre for Climate Reporting (CCR) and the BBC.

“These allegations are false, not true, incorrect and not accurate,” Jaber told reporters on Wednesday ahead of the talks, which will draw world leaders and tens of thousands of delegates to Dubai over the next two weeks.

“It’s an attempt to undermine the work of the COP28 presidency. Let me ask you a question: Do you think the UAE or myself will need the COP or the COP presidency to go and establish business deals or commercial relationships?”

Leaked documents show that al-Jaber planned to discuss fossil fuel deals in bilateral meetings at the climate summit, the CCR said.

According to the non-profit investigative journalism group, the documents include more than 150 pages of briefings prepared by COP28 staff from July to October and obtained by the CCR and the BBC from an anonymous whistle-blower.

The documents indicate Jaber planned to discuss commercial interests with almost 30 countries, according to CCR.

The briefing notes, detailed in reports published on Monday, signalled Adnoc’s willingness to work with countries including China, Germany and Egypt to develop oil and gas projects.

The CCR said that alongside the briefings, it has also seen emails and meeting records “which raise serious questions about the COP28 team’s independence from Adnoc”.

“Please, for once, respect who we are, respect what we have achieved over the years and respect the fact that we have been clear, open and clean and honest and transparent on how we want to conduct this COP process,” al-Jaber said.

Contested presidency

Former United States Vice President Al Gore, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for campaigning for climate action, said the allegations “have confirmed some of the worst fears” around al-Jaber while former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres said the COP28 host had been caught “red-handed”.

“The global community’s gaze is fixed upon these leaders, expecting them to embody the very essence of integrity, untainted by bias and national or personal gain,” said Tasneem Essop, executive director of Climate Action Network International.

“Any deviation from this path represents a betrayal of the trust placed in them by the world and a failure in their duty to future generations,” she wrote on X.

Al-Jaber, a 50-year-old longtime climate envoy, is a trusted confidant of the leader of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He’s been behind tens of billions of dollars spent or pledged towards renewable energy in the UAE.

He has weathered other controversies over alleged conflict of interest since being appointed COP28 president this year, including calls from US and European lawmakers for his replacement.

Supporters, including US climate envoy John Kerry, said al-Jaber is uniquely positioned to broker compromise at the COP28 talks, where world leaders will be confronted by their lack of progress in curbing global warming in a record-breaking hot year.

Reining in the use of fossil fuels and carbon emissions are expected to top the agenda of the 13-day summit, which runs from Thursday until December 12. International funding to help countries adapt to climate change will also be hotly debated as developing countries have been demanding more contributions from industrialised nations.

An ambitious loss and damages fund agreed last year to support poorer nations to help manage the negative effects of climate change is also going to be one of the main issues covered in the negotiations. World leaders agreed to the fund at COP27 last year, but they have failed to reach consensus on the most important questions of all – which states will pay into it and how much.

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